The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck Iran’s Taleghan 2 nuclear facility at the Parchin military complex, destroying a hardened site Tehran had rebuilt and buried under concrete and soil after an Israeli strike in October 2024. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Thursday that strikes had killed top Iranian nuclear scientists, including at least one senior figure involved in weapons development.
The IDF announced the operation as part of Operation Roaring Lion and released satellite imagery showing three large penetration holes atop the facility, located approximately 19 miles kilometers southeast of Tehran.
🎯STRUCK: The ‘Taleghan’ compound, a site used by the Iranian regime to advance nuclear weapons capabilities.
The compound was used to develop advanced explosives and conduct sensitive experiments as part of the covert ‘AMAD’ project in the 2000s.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 12, 2026
Satellite imagery from Vantor and analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security confirmed the precision of the strike. The bombs penetrated the concrete shell and underlying structure, with blast effects visible in collapsed defensive walls and damaged nearby buildings.
Taleghan 2 was originally a key site under Iran’s AMAD Project, the covert nuclear weapons program Tehran operated in the early 2000s. The facility housed a high-explosive test chamber used to develop initiation systems for nuclear warheads. The IDF stated Iran had resumed work at the compound after the October 2024 strike and identified new efforts to rehabilitate it.
NEW: Detailed assessment of the Israeli strike on Taleghan 2, a site “used by the Iranian regime to advance nuclear weapons capabilities,” according to the IDF. We detail the damage done to the newly constructed, bunkered facility, and nearby structures. Below is a composite… pic.twitter.com/zu3MnChM2O
— Inst for Science (@TheGoodISIS) March 12, 2026
The size and precision of the impact points raised questions about which munitions struck the hardened target. The 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a deep-penetration bomb capable of reaching buried nuclear sites, can only be delivered by U.S. B-2 bombers. U.S. Central Command declined to comment when contacted by The War Zone.
The IDF did not specify which weapons it used but has reportedly received 5,000-pound GBU-28 and GBU-72 penetrators, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.
Netanyahu called Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei a “puppet of the Revolutionary Guards” and said strikes were intended to create conditions for regime change.
“But at the end of the day, it depends on you,” Netanyahu told the Iranian people. “It is in your hands.”
